20.10.14

U2 – The Concert File & Other Matters

I only ever saw U2 once, at Wembley Arena around the
time that Joshua Tree was released in
the eighties, but I’ve always had a sneaking admiration for them mixed with occasional
feelings of despair when they overplay their cards or when Bono puts on his
‘holier than thou’ hat. In 2008 all four were in the congregation a few pews in
front of me for the funeral service at Golders Green of my old friend Rob
Partridge, who became the PR at Island after working on Melody Maker, and who was responsible in no small way for U2
signing to the label amid fierce competition from elsewhere. Their attendance
demonstrated the gratitude they still felt towards Rob for his guidance before
they became a global phenomenon, and I was impressed that the band that was
arguably the biggest in the world made the effort to attend. The Rolling Stones
wouldn’t have turned out for a former publicist, that’s for sure.

I was reminded of this while watching U2 on the Graham
Norton chat show last Friday night, and also that in 1994 I flew to Amsterdam
to meet up with an über-U2 fan called Pimm Jal de la Parra who wanted to
compile a book called the U2 Concert File.
It was much more than a listing of every concert the group had ever performed
as Pimm had contacted U2 fans throughout the world and asked them to send reports
and tapes of all the shows they’d seen. On the walls of his apartment were shelves
full of cassettes from hundreds of U2 shows, and every listing in the book would
contain details not just of what songs were played but of what exactly happened
at every show, all the quirks and spontaneous incidents, this being a time when
U2 liked to interact with their fans during a show, meaning anything could
happen and often did.

I
subsequently learned that U2 loved the book and took copies of it everywhere
they went on tour. It enabled them to refer back to previous shows in a
particular city, thus creating the impression that U2, and Bono in particular,
always remembered every gig they’d ever done everywhere in the world. One
example of this was apologising for a particularly bad traffic snarl-up after a
show which delayed fans’ departure the last time U2 played that city. “Real
sorry for the traffic hold ups last time we were here,” Bono announced between
numbers, having read about the problems in the U2 Concert File of course. “Hope it doesn’t happen again tonight,” he
added to generous applause.

So
enthused were U2 by Pimm’s book that when next they were in Amsterdam they
invited him to their hotel to meet him. He duly went along, shook their hands
and left but not before U2 asked him to join them for dinner after that night’s
show. “Sorry but I’m meeting some friends for a drink,” he replied to U2’s
astonishment. Accustomed the great and the good of society bending low before
them, U2 suddenly had to get their heads around the fact that a mere fan would
prefer to meet his mates for a drink than have dinner with them at, presumably,
a fancy restaurant. Humbled, their admiration for Pimm increased beyond
measure.

Pimm died
in 2002 and was mourned not just by U2 fans the world over but by members of
the U2 organisation. Here’s what their show designer Willie Williams wrote
about Pimm on a U2 website.